IDN-InDepthNews

NGOs & CSOs, SYNDICATION2016-01-132023-07-12

Greece Needs Broad Reform of Police Powers

ATHENS (INPS) – In a letter and briefing paper to the alternate minister for citizen protection, Nikolaos Toskas, Human Rights Watch has urged the Greek government to take formal steps to limit overly broad police stop-and-search powers.

Greece’s government told Human Rights Watch in December 2015 that it will amend a police circular governing the procedure for taking someone into police custody following a stop, for further confirmation of the person’s identity. But the government has not addressed gaps in the law that lead to groundless and sometimes abusive identity checks.

ARTS & CULTURE2016-01-132023-07-10

Addressing Gender And Racial Gaps In The Film Industry – Google Partners With Miami International Film Festival

TORONTO (INPS) – A unique partnership with Google on a new seminar series addressing gender and racial gaps in the film industry, particularly in technical cinematographic roles, is among new highlights unveiled January 12, 2016 by Miami Dade College’s Miami International Film Festival, as Festival organizers count down to the 33rd edition of the acclaimed annual event March 4-13, 2016. The Festival is the only major film festival produced and presented worldwide by a college or university.

UN INSIDER2016-01-132023-07-10

UN Chief Lauds G77 As Thailand Takes The Chair From South Africa

NEW YORK (IDN) – UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon commended the role played by ‘Group of 77’ (G77) developing countries and China, comprising 134 out of 193 member states of the United Nations, “in cementing historic 2015 successes”, as South Africa handed over Chair to Thailand on January 12.

At the handover ceremony of the Group’s Chairmanship, Ban expressed appreciation for South Africa’s “able stewardship as the Chair of the Group of 77 and China throughout such a historic year for multilateralism”, and warmly welcomed Thailand’s leadership.

GLOBAL ISSUES2016-01-132023-07-10

UN Chief Lauds G77 As Thailand Takes The Chair From South Africa

By J Nastranis | IDN-InDepthNews Report

News Media, SYNDICATION2016-01-122023-07-12

‘A Poverty-Free World is Possible’, Says Amina Mohammed

An Interview by Africa Renewal’s Kingsley Ighobor*

In this exclusive interview, the United Nations Secretary-General’s former special adviser on post-2015 development planning, Amina Mohammed, talks about the evolution of the process, the commitments made, the challenges ahead, and why the goals, if implemented, could transform the world.

Africa Renewal (AR): What were the lessons learned from the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and how did they shape the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)?

Amina Mohammed (AM): With the MDGs, we only addressed the symptoms. We didn’t really address the root causes of such development challenges as gender inequality, lack of access to clean water and the insufficiencies of health services. We’ve learned through this experience that having a set of goals directs people to discuss, create partnerships and find investments to execute plans. We’ve also learned to agree on the means of implementation. With the MDGs, we agreed to finance them after the goals were adopted, so we were always running after the money. This time, finance is part of the package.

GLOBAL ISSUES2016-01-122023-07-10

‘I See A World Without Poverty’, Says Amina Mohammed

An Interview by Africa Renewal’s Kingsley Ighobor*

Africa Renewal (AR): What were the lessons learned from the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and how did they shape the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)?

Individual Journalists, SYNDICATION2016-01-122023-07-12

Obama’s Often Overlooked Success In Foreign Policy

LONDON – Make no mistake. Barack Obama is going to go down in history as one of the great American presidents. At home he has confronted poverty, ill-health, racism, gun laws, unemployment, immigration and the criminal justice system – with amazing tenacity, sometimes to great effect, even though the Republicans have fought him tooth and nail over every attempt at reform.

DEVNET2016-01-112023-07-10

A Practical Way Out of Chronic Poverty

TOKYO (IDN) – Poverty alleviation has been on the agenda of development cooperation since the early 1970s: Robert McNamara declared in 1973 that the World Bank’s mission is to eradicate poverty by 2000, and three years later the Development Assistance Committee (DAC), comprising world’s major donors, adopted the Basic Needs Approach. But the major challenge for the development community has been to find an effective method to provide substantial relief to the poor and deprived.

For some time, this issue was considered ideological, of a choice between growth and distribution. The last attempt at establishing a policy framework from an ideological perspective was the DAC’s policy declaration of 1996: Shaping the 21st Century; the Contribution of Development Cooperation. SPANISH | GERMAN | HINDI | JAPANESE

UN INSIDER2016-01-112023-07-10

UN General Assembly Down The Memory Lane

NEW YORK – Marking the 70th anniversary of the first meeting of the United Nations General Assembly on 11 January 2016, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the body has truly become the “Parliament for all people.”

In fact, before there was a UN Secretary-General, a Security Council or an iconic Headquarters in New York, there was the General Assembly, the most representative body ever of world nations, meeting for the first time in a London hall facing Westminster Abbey, the 1,000-year-old coronation site of Britain’s kings and queens.

SYNDICATION, UNITED NATIONS2016-01-112023-07-12

UN Peacekeeping Chief Warns Of ‘Still Fragile’ Peace In Mali

NEW YORK (INPS | IDN) – The United Nations peacekeeping chief Hervé Ladsous has warned that, despite considerable progress, the peace process in Mali remains fragile, and stressed the need to urgently address political, security and humanitarian challenges.

Since the last consultations in October 2015, efforts by Malian authorities, parties signatory to the agreement, international mediators and the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali MINUSMA had helped reinforce the dialogue between the Government and the movements, Ladsous, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, told the Security Council on January 11.